Albus Potter: Halloween Murder Suspect
by Pretty-Unpretty
Summary: "What do you want, Meier?" I asked, running my hand through my hair as I buttoned my shirt back up. Meier pursed her lips, twirling her blonde hair between her fingers before looking me square in the eye. "There's a hand in the punch bowl."
1. Thursday, October 31

**_~ Thursday, October 31 ~_**

"Albus Potter," an annoying girl's voice announced right when my hand slipped under Leila Zabini's shirt. This girl — who I'm sure, is Isabelle Meier — seemed adamant on talking to me. I knew she wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

I pulled away from a disgruntled Leila (who, if I might add, left hastily) to face Miss Isabelle Meier, the most annoying person in sixth year.

"What do you want, Meier?" I asked, running my hand through my hair as I buttoned my shirt back up.

Meier pursed her lips, twirling her blonde hair between her fingers before looking me square in the eye.

"There's a hand in the punch bowl."

"Excuse me?" I asked, lacing my tie back up around my neck.

I was standing in front of Meier now; she was just a few inches shorter than me. Her blonde hair tumbled down from her head in a curly mess. She wore a red currant dress, with heels the same shade as her dress. Her lips were the same red color, almost as if it were stained with blood.

I just smirked at her slightly, momentarily forgetting that she was an annoying little girl and the matter on hand. She rolled her eyes, smirking and pinching my cheeks.

"There's a hand in the punch bowl," she said.

I glared at her, "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope," Meier smiled as she popped the 'p' in her answer. "I'm being—"

Before Meier could finish her sentence, there was a loud scream from down the common room.

My eyebrows creased as I made a move to get to the refreshment table.

Meier stopped me.

"What?" I asked irritably.

"Your buttons are done up wrong," she smiled sweetly again before flouncing down the stairs and in the other direction.

I cursed when I realized she was right.

* * *

"You guys so screwed," Rose hissed as she paced around the living. Sadly, I was going to have to agree with her. Louis, Graham and I were going to be killed by our parents. Not only did we throw a party on a school night, a decomposed body was found hanging above the punch bowl.

Isabelle freakin' Meier wasn't lying when she said there was a hand in the punch bowl. It wasn't even a fake hand, but a real, human's hand!

"Rosie, calm down," Louis sighed drunkenly. "You're not even going to be on the suspect list."

"But you guys are! And I'm not going to have my favorite cousin go to Azkaban door suspected murder!" she screeched, smacking Louis on the head.

"Oh dear, you think of me that highly?" he grinned back grinned, holding a hand to his heart. "Love you too, Rosie, but I must say, little Lucy is my favorite cousin—"

"Not you, you prat, I was referring to Al!"

I smiled triumphantly despite the fact that I was a suspect for possible murder or any other charges they can put up against me.

Before we could say anything more, the portrait door swung open. In clambered two investigative Aurors with Meier trailing behind them, asking questions. Meier was as curious as all of us in this matter, she was the only one who had the gut to bother Auror Bellefonte.

"You need to shut up," Auror Bellefonte hissed. "We told you what we can at the moment and you're just being—"

"A nosy bitch that wants to know why she's on the suspect list!" Meier exclaimed indignantly.

Before those two could proceed with the impending catfight they were going to have, Auror Nigel-Murray cut in.

"Hello there, you must be our suspects besides Isabelle," he said with a sunny, happy go lucky smile. He looked our age, bright eyes, hopeful smile and all. "Er, Albus Potter, Graham Larkin and Louis Weasley — and hello there, you're not—"

His eyes and smile were directed towards Rose who smiled back. I could tell they were flirting just using their eyes. Ha, if Scorpius were here to see this he would throw a fit.

Of course, Scorpius deemed himself too busy to help us throw a party.

"Hey, Auror Nigel-Murray—"

"Hm, actually, it's Mr. Nigel-Murray, you see, I'm not an Auror yet," he corrected me.

"Okay," I said. "But what's going to happen here?"

Nigel-Murray's face twisted up as he thought. Stroking his chin where his non-existent beard laid, he looked to Auror Bellefonte.

Bellefonte stopped glaring at Meier long enough to say:

"You'll all be brought in for questioning tomorrow and maybe again in a few days after we identify the victim."

Rose pursed her lips before stalking away, muttering something about us being idiots. Louis, Graham and I shared a look, gulping nervously.

The Aurors really thought one of us killed and hung up a decomposed body at our party. I mean, it was Halloween, so the body fit in perfectly and looked like another decoration. Surprisingly, it didn't even smell like a dead body, it smelled like nothing. Probably because the dead body was tampered with and hung up like a decoration for all to see.

Of course I didn't know the body was hung up there! It didn't look out of place at all!

"Until then, to make sure you don't run and for some of you to sober up," Bellefonte looked pointedly at Louis. "You'll be brought to the—"

Meier coughed. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and looked at us with a joking smile. I could tell she was taking this dead body over the punch bowl thing way too lightly as she said:

"I'm not going to jail am I? 'Cause, let's face it, I'm lovely."

* * *

**A/N: Hello there, new story, I'm sorry, I know I skip around a lot when it comes to writing, but I keep changing my mind. :( I think I'll keep this one though**

**Okay, the person who was murdered will be revealed in the next chapter! So why don't you drop me a review, telling me who you think the killer is:**

**1) Isabelle Meier**

**2) Albus Potter**

**3) Louis Weasley**

**4) Graham Larkin**

**5) Someone else in the story**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize it belongs to JK Rowling.**


	2. Friday, November 1

_**~ Friday, November 1 ~**_

The moment I got out of the interrogation room, Meier latched onto my arm and dragged me around the corner. She didn't let go until we were far enough away from the Aurors and took so many twists and turns; I was confused as to where we were.

"Meier, we're going to—"

"No, Potter, shut up," she hissed. "They have files here and I heard they've identified the body— it's in the Wizard Morgue!"

"We're not—"

"Yes, we are! We're already here, in fact," she said with a satisfied grin. "Now, keep watch and if they come, lie because you're good at that, right?"

She was bloody mocking me.

Meier slipped on a pair of black gloves and preceded to open the door, which was surprisingly, unlocked. What has the wizarding world come to? Not locking doors to the morgue where valuable dead people could be, we've absolutely lost it.

No, the Ministry has absolutely lost it. Never mind, the Ministry is practically full of people with pineapples for brains; they lost it a long time ago.

"I told you to keep watch," Meier hissed while flipping through files quickly.

She was quick, opening drawers and flipping through files quicker than I've ever seen her.

I looked around the room. It was full of dead bodies, well of course, it was a morgue. One body bothered me in particular; it sat in the corner covered in white cloth and the small of rose water emanating from it.

I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I picked up the file sitting on the table by the body.

* * *

_Name: Elsa Beavens_

_Age: 16_

_Time of Death: August 5th, 2024_

_Cause of Death: 3 bullets to the chest_

_Weapon: a muggle gun; bullets possibly charmed_

_Murderer: N/A_

_Motive: Golden Girl of Salem Witch's Institute— jealousy?_

_Possible Suspect: a muggle; Ridley Institute _

_Other Info: Beavens is the fifth sixteen-year-old girl who has disappeared and been murdered in the last three months— possible connections to the other cases?_

* * *

Ridley Institute… Ridley Institute… Ridley Institute… I've heard of this name before.

"Albus Idiot Potter, what did I say about touching things?" Meier hissed from across the room. "Your prints are probably all over that now!"

"Sorry, it's just—"

"What? Spit it out!"

"Ridley."

"What?"

"The Ridley Institute! Didn't you hear the story of a fairy named Ridley, who would come if you were a bad kid, take you and kill you? Then replace you with a changeling?"

"Gory story, but no," Meier exclaimed. "That is totally off topic— I found our victim."

She was looking at the piece of parchment, carefully scanning them for a name. It wasn't blatantly on the paper like the one I found about Elsa Beavens.

Meier suddenly shut the file and slipped it back into the drawer. She grabbed my arm and forced me to the ground. We ducked down, right behind the table Elsa Beaven's body.

"What the—"

"Shut it, Potter, or we're going to die," Meier hissed.

Her hand was on my wrist so tightly that I could feel it bruising, but I didn't say anything. I mean, someone was obviously here and I would blow our cover.

Meier peeked over the top and quickly came back down. Her blonde hair whipping into my face, the end of her soft hair tickled my neck and I struggled to push her away because our cover could be blown.

I'm sure Meier didn't mean to, but she was extremely close to me and it was bloody distracting. I'm not saying I'm attracted to her or anything, but she's a girl and she's making me nervous with the proximity.

Okay, she did smell very nice — creepy, but let's face it — the perfume she wore wasn't that strong, but Meier was really close. I could smell the sweet scent, mixed with something that reminded me of vanilla milk. To be honest, it was sort of intoxicating and I was pinching my arm to keep from dazing.

Meier didn't notice right away, but then she saw my expression and leaned closer to get a better look, her face showing clear sign of confusion.

"Are you okay?" she mouthed.

I nodded, my expression tight.

"You actually look like you're dying, so what's wrong?" she asked in a voice that was almost inaudible.

"Your— er, perfume it—"

"Do you not like it?" Meier asked. "Spit it out, Potter."

"No— it's just… intoxicating," I say faintly, feeling my mind almost shut down.

The last time I felt this dazed was when I was with Poppy Moore in fourth year. We were studying and maybe, just maybe we tripped over each other and she was really close— and never mind. Poppy is one of my best friends I shouldn't have felt weird.

This was weird though.

I don't know what really came over me, but the dim light in the morgue made Meier's blue eyes pop. They blinked at me innocently, confused for a second. Then an evil look came into her eyes as she closed the small cap between us.

Her lips were soft and sweet. It was sort of a weird kiss, I mean, I forgot that the girl was Isabelle Meier and nothing, but our lips touched. I guess, this was the kind of kiss you didn't talk about. The kind of kiss you didn't— no, couldn't tell your friends about. It was sweet and it lingered on your lips even after the other person pulled away.

By all means, I was never going to tell anyone about this kiss. It was a kiss that wasn't meant for the public eye or anyone, but the two people who shared it.

It was also one of the weirdest kiss I've ever experienced. Not in the sense that the other person was trying to stick their tongue down my throat, but because I was now fully aware that Meier was just teasing me. This was all fun and games to her, nothing else.

Someone grunted and Meier pulled away, a devious smirk graced her lips.

A man who looked about my Dad's age was growling at us. He muttered something about us being horny teenagers before grabbing us by the arm roughly and dragging us out of the morgue.

"This is no place for you two teenagers to— to… what do they say these days? Hook up?" the man scolded us while shoving us out of the door. "You're too young, so stop this nonsense!"

He slammed the door in our face and Meier scoffed. She spun on her heel and started to walk the other way.

"Meier what the hell was that about?" I asked, trying to keep up with her. She walked a lot faster than I expected, I mean, she was sort of short.

"What was what about? What?" Meier asked taking something out of the pocket in her dress.

She turned around and folded it up nicely, tucking it in my shirt pocket. Patting my chest with a mocking smile on her face. Meier was being absolutely infuriating and if she kept this game up, I was going to go mad.

"You know what I'm talking about," I growled, continuing to follow her as we made our way back to the other side of the Ministry.

"Oh, that, yes, it was a bloody kiss," she answered. "Get over it, it was practically nothing and if you're going to be a little girl about it, go talk to Louis about it or something— I'm sure he'll understand."

That statement made no sense because (a) what was Louis going to make of a kiss? (b) Did Meier just refer to Louis as, well, Louis? (c ) Wait— what?

Before I could retort, Mr. Nigel-Murray came out of nowhere and told us that we were going back to Hogwarts now. Oh, how lovely, not only was that trip to the morgue good for nothing, Meier also bloody kissed me and told me to figure it out myself. Lovely, just—

* * *

I was in a bad mood when I went into potions. The only good thing about this class was that I had Poppy who could make sense of almost everything. (I really do mean almost everything; she doesn't understand Louis who's practically impossible to understand)

"So, I need advice," I say as calmly as possible as I start stirring my potion.

"On what?" Poppy asked.

"A kiss."

"What?" Poppy laughed. "Forgot how to kiss or something? I'm sure Miss Zabini would love to teach you."

"No," I sighed before lowering my voice. "Someone might've kissed and I don't really no what to make of it."

"Who?"

I hesitated to tell her. I mean it's already awkward enough having something like this on my mind.

"I won't tell anyone," Poppy said. "Who was it?"

I looked down and muttered something.

"Huh? That—"

"It might've been Meier— Isabelle freaking Meier…"

Poppy's mouth dropped open. She quickly gained her composure before giving me a curious look.

"What? Did you like_ it_? Do you like _her_?" Poppy demanded.

I? Like Meier? The simple idea of that is just preposterous.

"No— it's just, it was a really weird kiss and like it meant something to her— or maybe me, but it's just— confusing."

"Well, how did she react?"

"She basically told me to piss off and figure it out for myself," I shrugged.

Poppy pursed her lips. She thought for a second, almost as if trying to word something carefully.

"I don't know Meier that well, but all I know she could possible like you and is embarrassed now or she really means to piss off. Now you gave to figure out what it means to you, did you enjoy it? Do you like her?"

She wanted an answer.

"I don't like Meier."

"Good," Poppy smiled. "I can't imagine you liking her."

"Me neither," I smiled back at her.

* * *

Louis bounded into our dormitory. Graham came tumbling in after him. They both had a devious grin on their face. This made me worry, Graham was rarely like this, and something was definitely up with these two.

I really didn't want to know because it had to be a bad, (hilarious) rumors about me or maybe, someone else in my large family. The rumors here are just—

"Rose just told us and when were you going to tell us?" Louis smirked.

"What—"

"And don't try to say it's not real because Scorpius is downstairs asking Meier about it— and we all know how terrible of a liar she is," Graham rolled his eyes.

The door suddenly opened and Scorpius came in, pulling Meier behind him. His face was flushed a light pink. Meier looked bored and extremely irritated as he pushed her forward.

"Tell them," he told her snappily.

"What? That I'm busy? That I have like three hundred thousand essays to finish? That you guys should stop grabbing my arm because I'm seriously beginning to bruise? That Poppy Moore should keep her trap shut? That—"

"No, what just happened," Scorpius told her.

Meier's eyebrows creased and she looked up thoughtfully.

"I was telling you about how absolutely impossible it was to kiss your own elbow," she announced. "And while we're on the topic of kissing, you guys are little girls."

Louis and Meier shared a look before both of them doubled over laughing. They were laughing so hard that by the time they finished, they were sitting back to back, on the floor. Both of their pale faces were now red and they looked like twins. To be honest, I didn't expect those two to look so alike. It was almost as if they were best friends, twins, but best friends.

You see Louis and Meier shared the same blond strawberry blonde locks. They had dark blue eyes that complimented their pale complexion. Even their eyes were the same perfect circle. Large, round, mysterious, mischievous, everything I really didn't expect to see in both of them.

The world decided to punish me by sending down two blonde idiots to annoy the hell out of me. Wait, scratch that out, the world actually sent three blonde idiots— Scorpius is blonde and pretty idiotic sometimes.

"Okay, so maybe I kissed you Potter," Meier said in between fits of laughter. "I already said to you, it's a body kiss, get over it— and since Scorpius Malfoy decided to be a prat and demand if I kissed you and why, I kissed him to."

I stared at Meier who was still laughing. Louis was having a hard time gaining control too. I wonder what he was laughing about. This wasn't even that funny.

"A kiss is a kiss, you don't need to blow it out of proportions," Meier rolled her eyes. "Now, did you read that piece of parchment I gave you?"

Huh?

I took the parchment out of my shirt pocket. I thought Meier was just disposing of something she had lying around. She probably thought that if one of us was caught, it better be me.

Opening the folded paper, I felt Meier idly sit next to me on my bed. Her perfume wafted into my direction again, making me blink to gain control.

* * *

_Name: Amanda Sayles_

_Age: 16— 17, maybe_

_Time of Death: N/A_

_Cause of Death: N/A— muggle method, possible_

_Weapon: N/A_

_Murderer: N/A_

_Motive: One of Hogwart's Golden Girls— jealousy?_

_Possible Suspects: Isabelle Meier — doesn't like Amanda; Louis Weasley, Albus Potter, Graham Larkin — Party Planners; Ridley Institute _

_Other Info: Seventh sixteen-year-old girl who has been murdered— possible connection the other murders_

* * *

"It was Mandy," I say, almost choking on her name.

Louis, Scorpius and Graham's expression all became grave. We were all shocked. I mean, Mandy disappeared at the end of September, we thought she might've really stepped over the line with the pranks, but it turns out she was murdered.

Does that mean, the girl who disappeared with her — Tessa Wens — was dead too?

"See? You were worrying about a stupid little kiss when there was a bloody — no pun intended — murder on our hands," Meier rolled her eyes.

* * *

**A/N: Aloha! **

**What do you think so far? Review and tell me who you think is the murderer!**

**Thank you to Soniaham for alerting. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize because it belongs to JK Rowling.**


	3. Sunday, November 3

**~ Sunday, November 3 ~**

Louis and I got quite a few letters yesterday. Someone from the Ministry decided to leak that two people from the Potter-Weasley Clan were suspects in the Amanda Sayles murder case. Yes, they also let lose that the victim was none other than one of Hogwart's Golden Girl, Amanda Sayles— or Mandy for short.

The letters, however, were not from the press asking for an interview or fans telling us that we were innocent. (Duh, I already know I'm innocent) No, they were letters from our family and oddly enough, Luna.

Luna Lovegood was one of my favorite people in this entire world. Sure, she can be a bit quirky and the drinks she serves are pretty bad, but I think she's a genius. Luna has something to say about everything and I loved hearing what she had to say even when others didn't.

The funny thing about getting a letter from Luna was that she rarely sent them.

The letter she sent was a request for me to meet her at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. She also wanted me to bring along Meier, who she referred to as the sweet, little one.

If Luna actually got to meet Meier, she would understand that she wasn't sweet at all.

I went to ask Meier that day. After looking everywhere that was logical— never mind, I just went straight to the Ravenclaw Tower; and being the Ravenclaw that she was, Meier was in there doing homework by herself.

She was sprawled across the floor. The skirt of her blue dress was riding up her legs and being the teenage boy that I am, had to resist the urge to look (not gonna lie, her legs were very— I'll shut up now). She clearly wasn't expecting anyone to bother her and didn't really seem to care about her appearance as her hair was a curly mess. Her slim finger was twirling it carelessly like always.

I walked over to her, hoping she would look up or something. Looking over her shoulder, I noticed that she was writing an essay about the Goblin Wars. Well, no, the essay was careless and something Rose would quickly dismiss. I could see her scribbling doodles on the side and her writing about butterflies and… lemon meringue pie?

My mind was reeling, there was something very wrong. _Meier wasn't talking. _

Suddenly, she rolled over, onto her back. Her blue eyes looked up at me distastefully.

"What do you want?"

Well, that was hurtful, people were usually very delighted to see my lovely face.

Merlin, I'm starting to sound like Louis— and Meier for that matter.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade," I shrugged, sitting down next to her.

Meier sat up, brushing her skirt down. She looked up at me thoughtfully.

"Are you high?"

"What—"

"You're pissed, aren't you?" she speculates.

"Meier—"

"Don't tell me you had amortentia," Meier rolled her eyes. "Because I can barely write an essay on the Goblin War, I don't think I can actually get you a cure for that."

"Oh! I have an idea, my perfume was way too strong and killed off all of your braincells," she exclaimed. "Not that you had many— well, sorry—"

"What? No, my Aunt slash Not Aunt wants to meet you—"

"No."

"What?"

"I have loads of homework and… I'm not planning on leaving this tower for a while."

Meier laid back down. Her eyes closed as she stretched her arms.

I only had one question in my mind though: _why?_

"Why?" I asked confusedly, pushing her bag over and sitting down next to her.

Meier shrugged, "Apparently, girls — your cousin, especially - don't like it when you kiss their boyfriends and they start having second thought— I mean, I bloody well kissed you and that meant nothing to both of us."

I agree with that.

"But apparently, Scorpius is rather being a daft idiot and started having second thoughts about Rose Weasley— who almost shaved my head this morning, mind you," Meier went on. "It was a kiss! A peck on the lips that seriously meant nothing— I don't even know if it was a good one!"

The kiss was short and sweet, not something I dealt with on a normal basis. I'm sure Scorpius didn't know what to make of it either. I sure didn't.

"I don't know if I'm a good kisser or not, the only person I actually snogged would be Louis when we were dating, but we broke up after finding out we were better mates than lovers—"

If the only person she ever snogged was with Louis, I was surprised her kisses were so light and sweet— wait… what?

"So I might've — just maybe — sent a few jinxes her way before having them backfire on me because I'm shit at wand magic—"

"You were Louis's girlfriend?" I asked suddenly.

The mysterious girlfriend Louis never introduced me or anyone else in the family to, was sitting in front of me. She was the only girl who got Louis into a relationship with him. At first, I thought it was because she wouldn't sleep with him. Then as the month passed, I realized I never met her and I started to wonder if she was real. He told me that she was eccentrically weird and didn't like being in the limelight.

Well, Meier was clearly eccentrically weird. I just didn't know how much she hated the vultures that are the press. Louis went through two months of sneaking around just for her— then they broke up!

Merlin.

"Yeah, totally off topic, but yeah, I thought… you knew," Meier shrugged. "Let's just not talk about it— and I think you should go—"

"Nope, you're coming with me, when Luna says she wants to meet you, she really means it."

* * *

Luna met us with a smile. She gestures us over quickly and I pulled Meier along. Pushing her lightly into the booth and sat down on the outside as she won't run away.

Luna greeted us with her normal talk before introducing us to Avalon Harmonia. Luna gleefully told us that she was a psychic.

Meier scoffed, "I doubt that."

"Oh, you must be the lovely Miss Isabelle Meier," Luna smiled. "Why don't we start with you, Harmonia?"

Harmonia's dark eyes looked Meier over. She seemed to be assessing her every movement before handing her a stack of cards.

"Shuffle."

Meier rolled her blue eyes. However, she started shuffling the card.

"What is your question?"

"Who's the murderer?"

Harmonia raised her eyebrows, but took the cards from Meier's hand and spread them out in a 'u'. Or as Harmonia called it, the Horseshoe Spread.

She flipped the card on our left first.

"The Fool," Harmonia nodded. "The question you asked was either the wrong one or you're asking it for the wrong reason."

"What—" Meier tried to interject.

Harmonia was already on a roll, "Death, something has shifted in your life. One part of you life has ended and now you'll be starting a new chapter."

Meier pursed her lips.

"The Lovers, you can expect to see a new love in your life."

Well, when that happened, I wanted to be there to see it. I mean, which unsuspecting boy will fall prey to Isabelle Meier? If anything, that poor guy will probably suffer and to him, I say: she'll probably bore you to death to end your suffering.

"The Tower, in the near future, you'll be falsely accused of wrongdoings."

Merlin, isn't Meier's future just fine and dandy? Could this get any worse?

"Wheel of Fortune, you'll run into obstacles that will bring unpleasant surprises to your life."

Oh look, her life just got even worse.

"That," Meier announced, "was shit, it didn't answer my question at all— what kind of psychic are you? This is nothing, but a—"

"I don't tell the definite future, Isabelle, I tell you the possibilities of what's to come in your life and your attitude sure goes along with what I have predicted. You're a bitter, little girl, aren't you?"

Meier narrowed her eyes, but she shut up. She seemed upset about something, but wasn't going to voice her thoughts like she normally does.

Harmonia went through the process with me. I shuffled the cards and split them into two piles as instructed. Harmonia then told me to pick three cards from either pile and lay them out from left to right.

I did.

She flipped the first card over.

"The Star, in your past, you've always had doubts about yourself."

If only I can say that wasn't true.

"The Magician represents the present, you're placing your trust in someone who shouldn't be trusted."

Who, though?

"The Lovers, you will find yourself wrapped up in an unhappy relationship, yet you will be unsure of the next step to make— you'll be unsure of yourself, bringing yourself back to The Star."

I'm going to go and agree with Meier here. This tarot stuff is shit, it doesn't even answer the question you ask, and instead it gave you something to see, the past, the present, the future… Shit.

"There is someone in your life," Harmonia says suddenly. "This someone deserves you more than anyone else in the world. She loves you, will always love you and you love her— but there will be troubles, another lover? Maybe."

"I don't think that's possible," Meier snapped. "I don't think there's one person in this world who deserves anyone."

"Why is that, Isabelle?" Harmonia asked. "Of course, you're dreary past."

"That has nothing to do with it," Meier growled. "The idea of having one love, one person who deserves you the most is ridiculous. It doesn't work that way, life doesn't work that way."

"Very well, Miss Isabelle, you may believe what you believe— Luna? Shall we go?"

"Of course," Luna smiled. She paid for the drinks and bade Isabelle and I goodbye before tagging along after Harmonia.

I could tell I was going to receive another letter from her sometime soon.

* * *

Meier declared that since I dragged her out of Hogwarts for absolutely nothing, but psychic shit, that I had to do her a favor. I thought she was going to ask me to help her hide a body, but no, she wanted my suggestion on what to wear to an interrogation.

She also wanted to talk about the Ridley Institute.

"The Ridley Institute thinks that the Ministry is full of meatheads," Meier commented while looking at herself in the mirror.

I shrugged, "My family aren't that corrupted, are they?"

"That's not the point," she interjects. Meier stopped for a second, requesting the dress in a dark blue before turning back to me. "I think Ridley is a lot worse than what people make them out to be."

I raised my eyebrows at her, urging her to go on.

"That fairy story thing you told me about, it's actually real, but they don't put a changeling in the child's place. They just take the child," Meier explained.

She went into the stall to change, still talking.

"I did some research and found out that there are a lot of kids who are kidnapped by Ridley, or at least the Ministry suspects Ridley," she went on. "They train these kids to be killers and stuff, mentally manipulating them to think they're doing the right thing. Since they were—"

"What does this have to do with anything?" I asked, not really wanting to hear what the Ridley Institute trains little kids to do.

Meier stepped out of the stall, surveying herself in the mirror. She turned to me.

"I think Ridley is trying to teach the Ministry a lesson, starting with their most important Ministry Officials children," she answered.

"What?"

"The first victim, Isla Rivers — daughter of Jessie Rivers who's in charge of something important — was killed by three bullets to the chest. She was dead by the first one, the other two were just for… fun or something."

"So…?"

"The second victim, Mia Taloway was the daughter of one of the Unspeakables, John Taloway and killed just like Rivers. Elsa Beavens, the third victim, again, killed just like the first and second victim— also the daughter of a very important Ministry Lawyer—"

"Why are you talking about those three cases?" I asked. "I mean, the one in our hands doesn't even involve the Ridley Instate."

Meier stepped off the stool she was instructed to stand on. She grabbed the collar of my shirt and brought her face down to mine. Her voice was very soft, like she was scared that someone would hear us (the seamstress seemed very interested in our conversation, now that I think about it).

"That's what they want, but Amanda didn't hang herself at your party and she certainly didn't plan on dying anytime soon— she's also the daughter of Tom Sayles, head of the department of Mysteries," Meier murmured. "For all we know, she could've been killed by three bullets to the chest— and don't even get me started on Tessa—"

Meier suddenly let go of my shirt. She walked over to the seamstress's table and took the scissors in her hand. I watched, not even bothering to stop her (come on, scissors? She could probably kill me if she wanted too), as she cut the palm of her hand.

The seamstress yelled at her to stop, but Meier didn't seem to be listening.

She walked over a wall, uncovered by paintings and started to draw with the blood on her palm.

I didn't stop her, neither did the seamstress who ran out and looked about ready to vomit. I figured out that you don't stop an artist from drawing a picture, not matter how bad the picture was or how urgent you needed to talk to the artists.

Poppy nearly killed me when I stopped her from finishing the picture she was drawing in fourth year when James had fallen off of his broom. Apparently, she had waited to long and the clarity of the picture was gone.

After a minute or two, Meier stopped. She turned around to face me.

The blood from her hand was everywhere now. On the wall, the dress she was wearing, her shoes, the floor and even her blonde hair was stained ruby red. Her face was ghostly pale as she slipped on her shoes and headed towards the back door.

"Potter, we need to go," Meier exclaimed weakly, gesturing me out the door.

I quickly followed her out the door. She looked around before running little ways away from the shop. Meier stopped right before she ran into the scattering of trees that were inevitably part of the Forbidden Forest.

I felt myself step back unconsciously. In the picture she was drawing with her blood, Meier had drawn a bones buried in the dirt, dressed in a dress very much like the one she was wearing right now.

Peeking over her shoulder, I saw she was digging weakly both her hands. If she continued, I have no doubt in my mind that her cut hand was going to be infected.

"Meier, you'll infect the cut—"

"Shut up— help me dig—" Meier cut herself off as she unearthed a skull, just like in her drawing.

Meier looked at the bones carefully.

Ripping her dress, she pulled at something on the bones.

I felt sick.

It was Tessa's star necklace, her name etched inside of the star. It was a gift from James right before they had a nasty breakup because they were both cheating on each other or something.

"I think we just found Tessa Wens," Meier murmured.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, about that tarot stuff at the beginning, I'm not sure if I'm totally right on that. I spent a few days figuring out how to do what and what each card meant and stuff like that, but I'm guessing it's a lot more complicated than what I have. So sorry if... you know, I do it wrong.**

**Thanks to FredMisfischiefmanagedGeorge for alerting.**

**Thanks to NeRd999 for being my first reviewer and being made of awesome. And HYpatheticallySPEAKING for being well... awesome as well.**

**Who do YOU think is the murderer? I'd love to hear your ideas. :) Bye bye.**


	4. Thursday, November 7

**A/N: FYI, the chapter starts off after someone calls the Aurors and now Al and Isabelle are at the Ministry for questioning! It will then continue to… Thursday, November 7 as the chapter is called.**

**.*.*.**

Meier and I were waiting in the interrogation room while a nurse patched Meier up and I tapped my foot impatiently.

We were annoyed with each other, again. It was all because Meier thought I called the Aurors to come when all I was doing was trying not to think about Tessa and tell Meier to stop digging. Just like I predicted, Meier's hand was all infected with germs and stuff.

"How'd you get the cut, dear?" the nurse asked kindly.

"I don't know," Meier shrugged.

I felt myself gawking at her. Did she really not remember anything that just happened? The way she cut herself with the scissors while the seamstress ran away, sick? Drawing with her blood on the wall?

"Well, I don't want you taking these bandages off until at least a week," the nurse told her sternly. "It's already infected and you'll have a definite scar from the cut. Mr. Potter, make sure Miss Meier doesn't do anything to hurt herself further."

I nodded, resisting the urge to give a salute.

The nurse left and in came my Dad and my Uncle.

Yippee.

"I thought you questioned us separately," Meier scowled. "Because Potter will gladly go first."

"What? Meier! No," I exclaimed.

"No, I just want to question you Isabelle," Dad tells her lightly.

"Then why is this little—"

There goes her mouth again. I don't mind the swearing to be honest, but you readers don't need to see the kinds of things Meier says. She really needs to wash her mouth.

Even Dad and Uncle Ron cringed.

"Well, we heard from a sick Bellefonte that you're hard to handle," Dad said. "Maybe having Al here would calm you down."

I looked at her curiously, almost smirking.

"Calm me down? I'm not that crazy," Meier scoffed, crossing her arms. She was still pissed with me. Meier never was this rude or mean when she was being herself. She just never shut up. "Besides, I don't trust the authority, especially Ministry authorities."

Dad raised his eyebrow at her before turning to Uncle Ron.

"Why don't you trust the authorities?" Dad asked cautiously.

"For all I know, you guys can be as corrupt as everyone else— or! Or you're being a sneak and working for a secret society! Maybe you're working with Ridley!"

I've made a discovery.

Meier is absolutely paranoid.

She decided right then and there to go on and on about secret societies and the idiocy of everyone who believes in the Ministry. Dad and Uncle Ron just stared, surprised at how big of a mouth a little girl could have. Meier's pretty small, you see. She stands at five feet and everyone towers over her. That doesn't matter, because her voice and cocky attitude makes her seem taller.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**~ Thursday, November 7 ~**

"I have a theory about the murder," Socrpius announced to me while I was studying for tomorrow's Charm's quiz. I leaned back and stetted my arms, feeling quite relieved to be taking a break.

That doesn't mean I want to hear more about the murder on hand. Meier seemed extremely excited about the murder, which was weird since this isn't something you're supposed to be excited about. The concept is _you're all murder suspects_, not _we're going to the amusement park_. Honestly.

Meier didn't seem to get that neither did Louis. They both seemed very hyped up about the problem.

"Shoot," I shrugged.

"According to the daily prophet, Tessa has been found— dead," Scorpius said darkly. "James isn't doing too well without that, neither is Dom because you know, her best friend was murdered."

I felt my stomach clench. While running around doing shit (like stealing from the Ministry, which is all Meier) and trying to prove to everyone in the world that I was innocent, I forgot about my family. Louis was doing okay with the murder, Graham's making it. Scorpius wasn't even wrapped into this mess. My family was another topic.

Mandy and Tessa were family friends. Of course Rose, Poppy and Dom were going to be affected the most.

"Meier told me something about forgetting the names and just referring to them as victim one and victim two, to lessen the pain," I commented thoughtfully.

Merlin, was I listening to Meier now? First the bloody date/not date where we found a dead body and now listening to her annoying jabbering? I have to figure out what's wrong with me.

"Well, that's not the point, the point is that Tessa and Mandy weren't good friends with Meier," Scorpius told me, taking a seat in the desk in front of me.

Well, whom did Meier actually like? She wasn't really friends with anybody, but Louis who she didn't even spend that much time with. Of course she didn't like Mandy and Tessa.

"She found the hand in the punchbowl and she didn't even freak out, instead she was as cool as a cucumber," he went on. "Then she found Tessa's body buried behind whatever shop you two went to— while we're on the subject, why did you go together?"

Scorpius wiggled his eyebrow suggestively at me, but I simply punched him roughly in the arm. I didn't need to explain myself to him.

"That's not relevant, go on," I answered.

"Okay, well, what if Meier's the killer? It all fits— let me explain," Scorpius cleared his throat.

"Mandy and Meier got into a fight right before she disappeared. Meier threatened to curse her into the next century if she didn't apologize. Then Tessa defended Mandy by saying something that must've really hurt because Meier told her to screw herself — that's just the nice way of saying it — and flipped her off before storming away."

True, I was there to see the entire thing.

"Then Mandy and Tessa left, following Meier who we don't see until the next morning going to report that Tessa was missing, because you know, they share a dormitory. Why did she, of all people, report Tessa missing?"

Yeah, Tessa wasn't very nice to Meier, yet she still went out of her way to report her missing. Why?

"Then Mandy was reported missing by Poppy and all that jazz," Scorpius shrugged. "Practically a month later, we find Mandy— no, Meier finds Mandy and she also found Tessa! She obviously knew something about where they were located—"

"Mandy was hanging above the punchbowl like a decoration, or course someone would notice the hand that fell into the punchbowl," I corrected him.

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes. "There's more, Meier keeps taking confidential files from the Ministry and somehow not having any of them notice. Maybe she makes a copy of it or something, but she's trying to use this information for something—"

Scorpius continued to explain how Meier was the perfect suspect and the right person to accuse of murder. I had to admit that his theory made a lot of sense. Why else would Meier steal from the Ministry and know where Tessa was?

Was Meier the murderer? Was Meier smart enough to get away with murder?

"We should go ask her," I suggested after Scorpius finished whatever he was saying.

"No!" Scorpius exclaimed hastily before correcting himself. "No, I've read about these kinds of things, asking the killer outright will send them on the run. They know—"

"Meier's smart," I shrugged. "Well, as smart as a student with straight D's could get."

I knew Meier was smart. She had — surprisingly — gotten more O's than me on her OWLs. I mean, Rose obviously had the perfect score, getting all O's, but somehow — despite her terrible grades — Meier pulled a close second, only being beat out by an unknown person who was rumored to have one more O than her.

The Professor's at first thought she had cheated because of how poorly she had done on assignments. (Again, she apparently get's 'dreadful' on everything she turned in)

Meier justified herself by saying cockily: _What can I say? I'm a genius. Take that everybody who dared say that I wasn't worthy of being a Ravenclaw!_

I still don't know if she should be a Ravenclaw, since I've read her essays. They are absolute shit if you know what I mean.

"Besides," I say. "Meier's social skills don't quite reach the high skills needed to understand subtlety."

Scorpius laughed. He couldn't deny it though. She couldn't break the murder of two beloved students at this school kindly— no, she plainly said: _they died get over it._

* * *

"Come to visit again?" Meier asked, tiredly.

It was almost eleven and everyone (who's sane) in Ravenclaw had already retired to bed. The only other person beside Meier who was awake was Lysander Scamander, who, let's face it, is just as quirky as Luna.

Scorpius and I had spent nearly and hour trying to get in.

"I always prided the Ravenclaw Tower as a place people can't bother me," she sighed. "Looks like I was wrong, you keep coming in."

I didn't say anything as I took a seat in the seat opposite of her. Scorpius fidgeted for a second before resigning to the couch on the other side of the table.

"Nice to see you too, Meier," I greeted her. "We just wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot," she shrugged.

Socrpius and I shared a look.

"Did you kill Mandy and Tessa?" Scorpius asked quickly.

I looked back to Meier who was now sporting a grim smile. She laughed humorlessly.

"Why yes, yes, I did," she answered with her natural mocking tone. Meier obviously thought we were idiots of sorts, but Scorpius's theory was plausible.

"Told you so!" He exclaimed triumphantly. "Wait, were you being sarcastic?"

For a smart guy, he wasn't all that bright.

"No," Meier drawled. "Not at all."

"Merlin, Meier, you got my hopes up!" he sighed, sitting back down.

"Oh, shut it Scorpius Malfoy," Meier muttered. "If you listened to anything I say, you would know that the assailant was at least as tall as both victims, ruling me out entirely since I'm not strong or tall enough to hurt the victims the way they were hurt— I'm still doing my research, but according to what I—"

"Hurry on, we don't have all day," Scorpius waved his hand, gesturing her to talk faster or talk less. He wanted her to say whatever she had to say in simpler terms, instead of her normal jibber-jabber.

That wasn't possible, this was Isabelle Meier we were talking about. She doesn't shut up.

"Pre-mortem, both of them suffered head injuries from falling down or someone knocking them out, I'm not tall enough or strong enough to cause this much damage—"

"The bullet shots, you could've done that!" Scorpius accused.

"Sadly, I have no gun," Meier rolled her eyes.

She pulled her legs up onto the chair, fitting perfectly in the small space. Meier looked like a doll with blonde hair cascading down like a river of gold. Her complexion was fair, almost like the porcelain plates Grandma Molly liked to have out during Christmas. I don't know if she was wearing lipstick, but her lips were — if possible — redder than blood. The glassy look in her blue eyes just added to the doll-like feeling Meier gave off.

If someone turned her into a doll, I wouldn't be surprised. She would be every little girl's dream when it came to china dolls.

Meier looked about ready to fall asleep when her eyes suddenly jerked awake.

"Scorpius Malfoy, under the table— there's a gun," Meier murmured, her voice strained.

Scorpius made a move to look under the table. He was reaching out to pick it up when Meier stopped him.

"Don't pick it up, this could be evidence!" she hissed, slipping on her gloves and picking up the gun herself.

She looked at it carefully. Poking and prodding at the odd item in her hand, she seemed familiar with it— I've never seen a muggle weapon so close. This was a new experience since we were wizards and we used wands.

Ridley had other things on its mind though, like using muggle weapons.

"Who's is it?" I asked.

"Almost impossible to tell," Meier shrugged, as she straightened up. "Whoever planted it here probably thought I would find it and get rid of it—"

"Maybe we should," Scorpius suggested uneasily. "I mean, I don't fancy going to jail anytime soon."

"Me, neither," I agreed.

"I'm not going to jail, I'm too lovely," Meier said. "Besides, no one's going to Azkaban."

"Why?"

"I have a brilliant plan."

Scorpius and I gave each other another anxious look. I was only relieved to see that Lysander was gone. We were discussing something very important and private— like what to do with a potential murder weapon.

"Okay, I shoot both of you and tell the Aurors you guys confessed to the double homicide of Tessa and Mandy before attacking me! All I did was defend myself, meaning I won't go to jail, this case would end and you would go to heaven— or hell," Meier smiled, holding her hands up for a highfive.

I blinked at her, my mouth wide open.

That was not happening, not in a million years, not if she pays me a million galleons; I wasn't going to die at her hands. Besides, I planned on living a very long and content-filled life with no worries.

"Meier can you—" Professor McGonagall's crisp voice interrupted us.

Meier dropped the gun and as it hit the ground, the gun was set off. The bullet shot Scorpius in the foot and he fell back onto the couch, yelping from the sudden pain. He clutched his foot, trying to sooth the pain, but it was no use.

Her eyes were clenched shut; her lips were pressed into a thin line. She held her hands at her side, tightly pressed into a fist as she trembled with— _was it anger or fear?_

"I didn't_ mean_ to set her hair on fire, I was trying to do a simple aguamenti!"

* * *

**A/N: Hello there :) Lovely to see you're back. **

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognized because it belongs to JK Rowling.

Thanks for everything, but I wanted to leave you guys a chapter before announcing that I'm going on **_HIATUS_ **with this story.


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